Truth For A Truth
by GeekBastard23
Summary: After a devastating case, Tony decides to pay Gibbs a visit, not realizing that it may change his life forever. Tony/Gibbs SLASH
1. Tony's Point Of View

_A/N: This is my first shot at Slash, so please be kind :P Don't like don't read.  
>This is set somewhere in Season 8, though there are no real spoilers, I guess.<em>

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS.

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><p><strong>Truth For A Truth<strong>

Another sip of the bottle of beer in front of him and he surely would feel fine, right? It wasn't like this had never happened to him before. Except maybe… no, this must surely have been the result of that nerve-wracking case they had been working on for the last two weeks and had only closed it this late afternoon, leaving Tony to finally be able to breathe freely, leaving him with a little time for himself. Or what he liked to do with a little time for himself – partying. He had arrived at the bar about two hours previously and by now he had a real buzz going but it didn't help him get over the case at all. Maybe he should have stayed at home after all, maybe he should have taken McGee up on his offer to watch a movie at his place. All of a sudden everything seemed to have much more appeal than sitting in a bar where he knew nobody, drinking himself into a stupor. But well, it was where he was usually finding his bliss, so it had seemed like a pretty good idea at the beginning.

Tony sighed and sipped on his beer again, desperately trying to make the pictures that kept on showing up in front of his inner eye go away. That damn case, why wouldn't it stop haunting him? They had found nineteen year old sailor Mark Perry dead in his apartment and at first everything had hinted at a suicide but Abby, genius as she was, had found out that it wasn't the case. So two weeks of chasing down dead end after dead end, Gibbs finally had realized what was really going on there. The dead sailor had been gay to the utter dismay of his conservative father, who had threatened to out him if he wouldn't follow his orders. Mark had obliged in the beginning but apparently had had enough after the father was about to send him on yet another date with a girl even though he knew well enough that the son had been in a committed relationship for a year now. But instead of talking to his son, Perry Sr. had decided to jump into action and as he hadn't seen another way to put an end on the shame, he had decided to kill his son. As Tony and Gibbs had finally arrested the murderer, he had shown no hint of remorse, talking about his son getting what he deserved. Tony had expected Gibbs to shout at him, to straight him out while in interrogation but he had remained stoically calm the whole time, his glance firmly on Tony, not on the suspect, causing Tony to feel slightly twitchy inside.

Tony motioned the bartender for yet another beer. He still couldn't understand his reaction to Gibbs' eyes on him. He surely didn't know, did he? Granted, Gibbs had a pretty good idea about how Tony's had been before he had joined NCIS but he had never told anyone about that side of him. Hell, he had successfully repressed those memories for most of the time in those last and admittedly happy ten years. So, he really couldn't think of a way that Gibbs had found about him and that incident when he had only been thirteen years old, causing his dad to send him away to military school.

The bartender approached him now, empty-handed.

"I think you've had enough for tonight. Should I call you a cab, mate?"

Tony looked up and wanted to contradict him but then he realized that the guy was probably right, he had drunk too much already, no reason to make his life even more miserable in the morning. He just shook his head, mumbling something about living in walking distance before he placed some money on the counter and slowly left the club, desperately trying not to sway.

His thoughts were still swirling around the expression on his dad's face as he had caught him behind those bushes, the pure look of fury and disgust in comparison to Gibbs' calm eyes upon him as he stopped in front of the familiar house. He subtly shook his head as if he was only realizing now that this wasn't his home but was his boss' house. In fact, he really hadn't thought much about it as he took the detour. But now that he was standing there, he didn't quite know why he came here. He climbed the stairs surprisingly steady but didn't dare to let himself in. It wasn't like he had never done it before, sneaking into there in the middle of the night, not expecting anything but a place to sleep – Gibbs' couch preferably. Not once had Gibbs said anything when he had found him sleeping there, he had simply woken him up, telling him it was time for work.

But this time, it was something entirely different though Tony couldn't quite put the finger on what it was exactly. Maybe it was the beers after all. Taking a deep breath, he let himself in, listening to any noises. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped that Gibbs was already asleep and he wouldn't have a chance to talk to him after all. But as Tony stepped into the living room, he surprisingly saw his boss sitting on the couch watching a movie on his ancient-like TV.

"I never thought you'd ever use the DVD-Player I gave you for your last birthday," Tony tried to joke but even to him his voice sounded oddly off and the slight slurring had probably nothing to do with it.

Gibbs didn't turn to look at him, instead he just patted on the empty space beside him on the couch. Tony followed suit and dropped down on the couch, not needing more than a few seconds to realize that Gibbs of all people was watching _Sleepless in Seattle_. But before he could ask, Gibbs paused the movie and finally looked at him.

"It was Shannon's favorite movie," he answered Tony's unasked question. "And you look like you've been just thrown out of a bar."

Sheepishly, Tony tried to smile but realized soon enough that there was no way of lying to Gibbs anyway, so he just nodded.

"This case…," he started and trailed off after a few moments of awkward silence.

"What about it?" Gibbs asked calmly, never once averting his eyes from Tony's face.

"I… I don't know," Tony answered hesitantly, not quite sure of what to say. "Sometimes I just wonder, you know, that… uh, that could have been me, you know."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow but remained silent, obviously waiting for Tony to continue. He took a few breaths, unsure of how to make Gibbs understand what was pestering him so badly.

"Ever wondered why my dad threw me out when I was thirteen, Gibbs?"

He waited till his boss nodded sharply once before Tony averted his glance from his face and instead found interest in his shoes.

"My dad caught me kissing my best friend – Andy. We were just, uh, you know, experimenting. We just wondered how it felt like. Kissing, you know. Just in general, it had nothing to do with us being boys and stuff. We just wanted to know. But my father just totally freaked out, telling me that he was ashamed of me and whether I didn't care what others might think of me, of him, of the DiNozzos if they ever found out that I was kissing boys."

Tony stopped talking, still intently staring at his feet, waiting for Gibbs to do something, to say something. Maybe he should have just gone straight home, sleep it off and hopefully repress the case after all. Maybe it had been a stupid idea to come here. But just as he was about to get up he felt Gibbs hand softly patting his shoulder, causing Tony to finally look at him again. He was still sporting that calm expression from before, no hint of surprise on his face.

"I had no idea why he was so furious back then. But I knew that I had done something so terribly wrong that I didn't even think of kissing anyone until I was seventeen. It wasn't until years later, that I realized that Dad wasn't angry with me because I had kissed someone but because I kissed a boy."

Gibbs nodded now, his hand still resting on Tony's shoulders and he felt himself getting calmer by the second. They remained silent for a few minutes, Gibbs obviously not wanting to push Tony any further and he wasn't entirely sure what he had hoped to receive from Gibbs when he had started to tell his story anyway. But that hand on his back was apparently everything he had ever needed…

Wait, what?

Tony shook his head hard. What was he thinking? The beers must have really gotten to his mind by now. He unintentionally tensed up and he felt Gibbs' hand disappear from his body.

"You okay?" Gibbs finally asked.

"No, I mean, yes," Tony stuttered and was about to get up as he felt the older man's hand on his wrist.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at him, realizing that all the calmness had vanished from his face, replaced by… yeah, by what exactly? Actually, he had never seen Gibbs like that, his face slightly red, his eyes wide open.

"And do you share your father's opinion now, Tony?" Gibbs asked only above a whisper.

"No!" Tony all but cried out, sinking down on the couch again. "Of course not. I haven't been on the same page with my father about anything since then. You know that."

"But does he know?"

"Know what?" Tony replied confused, desperately hoping that he was imagining things, that Gibbs' hand wasn't still clutching his wrist, that those piercing blue eyes weren't sizing him up at the moment, that that soft smile playing on Gibbs's lips wasn't of the knowing kind of sort.

"Come on, Tony," Gibbs softly answered, still whispering, causing Tony to lean just a little closer. "You know what I'm talking about."

"You know?"

Tony felt his heart rate accelerate, his hand start to sweat. He had thought he had kept this a secret. The secret of him being… bi-curious, right? Sure, he had had his fair share with the women and the men. But he never told anyone about it. Especially not Gibbs…

"Yes," Gibbs simply answered now, his grip tightening around Tony's wrist even more now.

"How… how long?" Was all that Tony was able to choke out as he was suddenly able to feel the older man's breath on his cheek, able to smell the almost overwhelming mix of sawdust, coffee and bourbon close to him.

"That you are not only interested in women? I'd say within two weeks working with you."

Tony let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. All this time he had thought that he had put on a nice show, fooling everyone, even Gibbs. But apparently he had known all along. And if he had known it for all this time, did he know that…know that… No, he couldn't, otherwise he wouldn't still be sitting as close to him as he was now, still clutching him, his nose mere inches away from Tony's cheek.

"Or are you talking about something different, Tony?" Gibbs asked now, and once again his breath softly tickled Tony's cheek, causing him blush furiously and he hoped that the darkness of the room would do him the favor of not betraying him.

"Wh-what?"

"Or are you talking about the fact that you've been in love with me for quite some time now?"

Tony stared at him with wide eyes, expecting Gibbs to finally back away from him but he had remained close, so close in fact that their lips were all but touching.

"Four years, two months and seven days to be exact," Tony whispered, cursing himself for drinking too many beers, making him confess now.

He felt Gibbs nod more than he actually saw it. His heart was working overtime by now and his breath was shallow, which made it only harder for Tony to string together one coherent sentence. But what was he supposed to say anyway?

Just as he was still wondering about it, he felt Gibbs lean into him the tiniest of fractions and his lips brushed against Tony's, taking the younger man's breath away. It was when he realized that he was maybe not that crazy after all, that all those head slaps had actually been a sign of affection, that that look that afternoon didn't have anything to do with the case but was displaying concern for him. As soon as that realization crashed upon him, Tony kissed him back, tongues soon enough battling for dominance. His thoughts, his worries flying out the window to a place, where he would hopefully never find them again.

As they finally broke apart, lips swollen, green eyes locking into blue ones once again, Tony finally found his words again.

"How long? How long Gibbs?"

"Four years, two months and two days. As soon as I left for Mexico, Tony, I realized that it wasn't work that pulled me back to DC. It was you, though I wouldn't ever admit it."

"Why now?" Tony asked, holding his breath.

"Because we already wasted over four years. Or are you having second thoughts?" Gibbs said; a slight note of insecurity in his voice that Tony had never heard before.

"You know what I like the most?" Tony answered, a broad smile appearing on his face all of a sudden and as Gibbs shook his head, looking confused, he continued. "I just really like to piss off my father."

Gibbs smirked before he shook his head.

"I hope that's not the only thing that makes you do this."

"Never, Jethro," Tony said before he leaned forwards again, stealing another kiss.

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><p><em>AN: Let me know what you think!_


	2. Gibbs' Point of View

_A/N: Yes, this was originally planned as a One-Shot but I thought it'd be fun to hear (or read actually) Gibbs' thoughts about the events of the evening. Hope you like it and thanks for your reviews and favorites! :) You absolutely made my day! _

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><p>Standing in the shower, Gibbs saw his hopes of actually relaxing dashing away. He had hoped that the hot water would relax his tense muscles, would take his mind off of things. But it was to no avail and he should have foreseen it anyway because even working on his boat hadn't done him any good at all. So why exactly should take a shower have worked?<p>

Jethro didn't really know what bothered him so much. Of course the death of a nineteen year old sailor was nothing to shrug off easily but he had seen enough of that in his life to be able to repress the feeling of despair with every victim they were investigating on. He was sure that it had nothing to do with Mark Perry per se. No, Gibbs was more worrying about his senior field agent without really grasping why. DiNozzo had been unusually quiet ever since they had found out that Perry Sr.'s homophobia had brought on this tragedy. Gibbs had watched him carefully all day, had observed how he had become paler by the minute, had observed how his expression had changed from wonder to disgust to worry.

Something surely must be wrong with Tony and Gibbs had a distinct feeling in his gut that he knew what this was all about. But Gibbs wasn't a man of many words, so how was he supposed to address this matter? Especially, if he wasn't even sure that he was right about that specific thing. Tony had left hints here and there in those ten years that he had been working with him but had never told him about that possibility, so Gibbs had kept quiet himself, not wanting to scare him away. But still, Tony's reaction to the father was still strange…

Jethro had debated to go to bed as it was already around midnight but had to realize that sleep would surely not be coming easily tonight as his thoughts seemingly were on a rollercoaster ride and there was nothing he could do about that. So, he went down into his living-room again, going through his DVD collection which contained about six movies, and finally settled on _Sleepless in Seattle_. He still wasn't sure why exactly he had bought that DVD back in the day but DiNozzo had mentioned it once as the one chick-flick, as he called it, that was actually good and any man would be able to please a woman with that one.

He had even come over - on one of those nights after his assignment as an Agent Afloat to talk about Jenny and about him drinking too much - and they had watched the movie together. In the end, Tony had been too drunk to drive back to his own apartment, so Gibbs had let him sleep on his couch. Just before he fell asleep that night, Tony had mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'I missed you, you know.' It was still making Jethro smile and maybe it was the reason he had decided to watch the movie, after all. Gibbs subtly shook his head but Tony had been right for once, the film wasn't half bad, even though he would never admit it, of course.

Two glasses of bourbon into the movie, Gibbs was suddenly able to hear noises, heavy breathing and stumbling footsteps to be exact, outside his front door and his pulse quickened as he realized that it could only be one person that would show up at his door step at one o'clock in the morning. It wasn't the first time either, Tony liked to crash on his couch quite a lot but never gave any reasons for it and Gibbs was fine with that because as long as DiNozzo was fine, it was alright with him. But tonight, Gibbs wasn't already asleep to avoid him and his gut suddenly started to churn as the front door opened and closed silently. Gibbs waited for a few moments before Tony came into his field of vision, leaning against the doorframe, his omnipresent suit that he was usually wearing at work exchanged for a casual pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He wasn't able to make out the expression on his face, though, as it was too dark to see.

"I never thought you'd ever use the DVD-Player I gave you for your last birthday," Tony's voice came out slightly slurring, slightly insecure, as if he was wondering what exactly had driven him to come to his boss' house in the first place.

Gibbs had returned to stare at the TV again, unable to look at the kid without giving himself away. He simply patted on the empty space beside him on the couch and heard Tony stumble across the room and sit down, leaning back into the cushions. Jethro was able to smell the faint scent of beer that was clocking him and wondered how drunk Tony actually was. With a sigh, Gibbs quickly paused the movie as he realized that his agent would probably make fun of him for watching it all alone. He turned to look at him and thought fast.

"It was Shannon's favorite movie," he finally said, hoping that Tony, movie buff that he was, wouldn't detect the obvious lie and then added quickly. "And you look like you've been just thrown out of a bar."

DiNozzo looked at him as if he had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar and then nodded.

"This case…," he started and trailed off after a few moments of awkward silence.

"What about it?" Jethro asked, hoping that his voice was as smooth, as calm as he hoped it to be, not once looking away from Tony, as he was afraid to miss a change in his expression.

"I… I don't know," Tony answered hesitantly. "Sometimes I just wonder, you know, that… uh, that could have been me, you know."

Gibbs released a sharp breath and felt his eyebrow shoot up but he remained silent, waiting for Tony to continue. This was very important for him apparently.

"Ever wondered why my dad threw me out when I was thirteen, Gibbs?"

Once again, Gibbs said nothing, just nodded. Yes, he had wondered about it a lot over those last ten years but had never dared to ask the kid about it as it was obviously one of those things that Tony never talked about.

"My dad caught me kissing my best friend – Andy. We were just, uh, you know, experimenting. We just wondered how it felt like. Kissing, you know. Just in general, it had nothing to do with us being boys and stuff. We just wanted to know. But my father just totally freaked out, telling me that he was ashamed of me and whether I didn't care what others might think of me, of him, of the DiNozzos if they ever found out that I was kissing boys."

Tony had averted his glance and had spoken to his feet but Gibbs could almost feel the battle that was raging inside of him. The way Tony was frowning, the way he was running his fingers through his hair was always a sign that he was nervous, unsure and Gibbs wondered if he, himself, had that exact same expression on his face.

Anyway… The way Tony was unconsciously rubbing his right cheek now, made him feel all funny inside. His father probably hadn't just verbally abused him that day, Gibbs was sure about that and felt sorry for the kid once again for having such a messed up childhood. If he could only tell him…

Without really thinking about was he was doing, Gibbs started to softly pat Tony's shoulder, hoping it would calm him down a bit and causing the kid to look at him once again, his eyes glazed over, though the beer had probably nothing to do with it.

"I had no idea why he was so furious back then. But I knew that I had done something so terribly wrong that I didn't even think of kissing anyone until I was seventeen. It wasn't until years later, that I realized that Dad wasn't angry with me because I had kissed someone but because I kissed a boy."

Gibbs nodded now, his hand still resting on Tony's shoulders, and remained silent for a few moments, not knowing what to say to him. Suddenly, however, he felt Tony stiffen under his touch and he retreated, once again looking at him closely.

"You okay?"

"No, I mean, yes." Tony chocked out.

All of a sudden, Tony all but jumped up from the couch, surely to run away from the conversation they were just having but Gibbs wouldn't let him. This was too important – for both of them. So, he gripped the first thing that was within reach and pulled him back down to the couch by his wrist.

Obviously confused, Tony turned to look at him and his face was suddenly alight as if a fire was burning just behind those beautiful green eyes. Gibbs sighed and forcefully tried to avoid locking eyes with him.

"And do you share your father's opinion now, Tony?" He asked, his voice suddenly rough and quiet at the same time.

"No!" Tony all but cried out, "of course not. I haven't been on the same page with my father about anything since then. You know that."

Gibbs had trouble containing the smile (or what constituted as a smile in Gibbs' universe) before he continued.

"But does he know?"

"Know what?" Tony replied, carefully trying to keep his emotions from showing and failing miserably.

"Come on, Tony," Gibbs whispered and Tony leaned in the tiniest of fractions, making it able for Gibbs to smell his aftershave. "You know what I'm talking about."

"You know?"

Once again, Gibbs was only just able to bite back the grin on his lips and instead focused on Tony, who had started to sweat, his eyes darting around the room as if he was looking for the nearest exit.

"Yes," Jethro answered then, leaning in closer, his lips mere inches away from Tony's cheek now, his grip on the wrist becoming more forceful. No, he wouldn't let him walk away now.

"How… how long?"

"That you are not only interested in women? I'd say within two weeks working with you."

It wasn't exactly true as he hadn't known for sure since this very afternoon but he had had his suspicions before and in addition to that, the bastard side in him kind of enjoyed seeing Tony like that, all insecure, all speechless for once.

"Or are you talking about something different, Tony?" Gibbs was feeling more foolhardy with every moment that was passing and Tony suddenly started to blush furiously under his gaze.

"Wh-what?"

"Or are you talking about the fact that you've been in love with me for quite some time now?"

There it was. He had said it. He was sure by now that it was the truth. That it had been the truth all along. But only now, Gibbs realized that it wasn't as one-sided as he had thought it would be. Yes, he had thought about Tony in a way no boss should think of his agent but here they were sitting now, staring at each other and Gibbs had no power to deny the attraction any longer, not even to himself.

"Four years, two months and seven days to be exact," Tony whispered, confirming Gibbs' earlier suspicion.

Gibbs sharply nodded and realized that his breath was matching DiNozzo's by now, being all shallow and fast. Maybe it was because his brain activity was slowed down by the lack of oxygen or the bourbon had finally done its trick or simply because he wanted to do it but Jethro turned his head the tiniest of fractions and his lips brushed against Tony's. The kid tensed up for a moment before he closed his eyes, leaned in and their lips touched for the first time. Hell, Leroy Jethro Gibbs was kissing a guy – his partner of ten years to be exact – and was actually enjoying it.

As they finally broke apart, lips swollen, green eyes locking into blue ones, Tony finally found his words again.

"How long? How long, Gibbs?"

Good question. For ten years? For ten minutes? Since this morning? But then, a thought crossed his mind and he truthfully answered this time.

"Four years, two months and two days. As soon as I left for Mexico, Tony, I realized that it wasn't work that pulled me back to DC. It was you, though I wouldn't ever admit it."

"Why now?" Tony asked and Gibbs was on the verge of hugging him, as he was looking so happy and so lost at the same time.

"Because we already wasted over four years. Or are you having second thoughts?"

And damn, he sounded insecure now. He, Gibbs, who was never insecure about anything…

"You know what I like the most?"

Gibbs immediately felt himself relax at the sight of Tony who was suddenly sporting a big grin, his trademark grin to be exact, flashing his teeth, seemingly completely at ease now.

"I just really like to piss off my father."

Gibbs snorted and smirked. Yeah, that was his boy, after all. But still…

"I hope that's not the only thing that makes you do this."

Tony's eyes were sparkling with mischief now, causing Gibbs to actually give him a smile this time.

"Never, Jethro," he simply answered and leaned into him again, stealing another kiss.

Well, maybe he could get used that mouth after all, right?

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><p><em>AN: Thoughts? Let me know what you think! :)_


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